A Russian nationalist party leader and a Duma MP from Chechnya began a brawl after failing to settle an argument over a monument to the 19th-century war in the Caucasus. The fight ended abruptly after the Chechen politician dropped a golden pistol.

The two men were the chairman of the recently re-registered
nationalist party Rodina (Motherland), Aleksey Zhuravlev , and
Adam Delimkhanov, an MP from the majority United Russia party.

Technically, Zhuravlev also sits in parliament on the United
Russia ticket – he was elected as a member of the United Popular
Front movement which supported the ruling party at the last
elections in exchange for a share of representation.

The brawl itself took place at about 6pm on Tuesday in an
elevator lobby of the State Duma building in central Moscow.

The cause and background of the conflict were presented by
Zhuravlev, who told business daily Kommersant that he and
Delimkanov had previously agreed to meet and discuss the recent
controversy over the monument erected near the Chechen village of
Dadi-Yurt.

The monument, which was opened personally by the head of the
Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov in September this year, is
dedicated to the memory of those who fought against the Tsarist
Russian army in 1819.

It especially glorifies the heroism of 46 girls who, according to
local chronicles and legends, were taken prisoner, but jumped
into a mountain river from a bridge taking several Russian
soldiers with them, killing themselves and their enemies.

The monument caused a wave of criticism in Russia. Journalists
and historians doubted the veracity of the original story and the
Officers of Russia NGO insisted on retaliation by installing a
monument to General Aleksey Yermolov – the commander of Russian
forces in the Caucasus War.

Also in September Aleksey Zhuravlyov addressed Russia’s
Prosecutor General with an official parliamentary request to
study the legality of the Dadi-Yurt monument. He wrote that the
wide resonance around the story raised suspicions that the
memorial was stirring up ethnic hatred –a criminal offense in
Russia.

“The attempts to revalue and praise some distant and
ambivalent history pages are fertile soil for the seeds of
extremism and separatist moods,” Zhuravlyov wrote.

When the two MPs met in the State Duma elevator hall on Tuesday
afternoon, Delimkhanov started shouting threats, saying that
Zhuravlev should not have written any request and that
“everything would now end badly,” Zhuravlev told Kommersant.
Also, according to the Rodina head, the Chechen MP attempted to
punch him in the head and after this a brawl started between the
politicians with involvement of their aides and bodyguards.

The incident ended in a strange way.

“At some point Adam Suleymanovich [Delimkhanov] dropped a
golden pistol – I have no idea from where – and we decided to
stop all actions against him,” Zhuravlev said.

However, some of the participants of the brawl were injured and
had to receive first aid from an ambulance team. Rodina’s press
secretary has told ITAR-TASS that one of Zhuravlev’s friends, who
attempted to stop the fight, had several teeth broken, but
refused to be taken to a hospital.

The day after the incident it was considered by the State Duma
committee for Ethics, but its members refused to issue an
official appraisal. Lower house Speaker Sergey Naryshkin told the
press that participation in a fistfight was not worthy of someone
in the position of a parliamentarian, adding that law enforcers
would now deal with the fight.

“A line has been crossed,” he said, hinting at potentially
serious consequences for those involved in the conflict.

On Wednesday afternoon Interfax reported that the two
legislators had settled their conflict.

The announcement was made after Zhuravlev and Delimkhanov
consulted with Naryshkin and the chairman of United Russia’s
parliamentary caucus Vladimir Vasilyev.

Also on Wednesday, the head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan
Kadyrov, told reporters that in his view the conflict between the
two MPs was not serious.

“It was a misunderstanding, nothing else then a heated
argument between two men,” he said. “All this speculation
is worthless and the topic is being artificially inflated by
external enemies who seek to cause a discord between members of
one parliamentary caucus.”